During the past one month of combat training, the trainees had been taught various sets of fighting techniques which they could now compile into fighting styles and choose a fighting style of their own form.
After a whole month of constant combat training, a few trainees had managed to grasp a bit of the essence of hand to hand combat with Ivan obviously being one of these few. They were the only ones who had managed to grasp the meaning of fighting and had managed to create their own fighting styles from what they were taught, the only thing that they now needed was constant practice to become true masters.
Back to Ivan's and Luke's fight.
Ivan arrived in front of Luke in a blink of an eye, his hand swept through the air in the form of a punch toward Luke's face.
His sudden speed surprised Luke a bit but he was ready for whatever Ivan had to dish out.
With a tilt of his neck, Luke let Ivan's punch pass by the side of his head before immediately delivering a powerful punch toward Ivan's side which could potentially break a rib or two if it hit.
But of course it would be too early for their exchange to end if Ivan allowed himself to be hit. Bringing down his left elbow, Ivan knocked Luke's punch away before attacking with a side chop with his other hand that was beside Luke's neck.
Luke didn't block this time as he bent his body fully, letting Ivan's hand pass just a few centimeters above his head while he sent a kick toward Ivan's leg.
Ivan easily blocked the kick and attacked immediately after.
For the next minute, the two of them locked each other in a ferocious close range combat with neither of them backing off or getting thrown off by the other's attack.
Kicks, punches, chops, palm strikes, elbow slams, knew strikes…for the next minute, every form of attack that could be performed by the body were used by the two of them yet none of them managed to land a clean hit or get the advantage.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Clap!
Loud sounds of flesh hitting flesh filled the room as Luke and Ivan danced around each other while throwing life-threatening attacks at one another.
Ivan's face was still as calm as ever but his eyes had changed completely that one might even think that he was possessed, his blue eyes were now looking as sharp as those of eagles and seems to be glowing faintly as he followed Luke's every move; his current gaze was similar to those of powerful experts who had been through countless battles, some trainees could help but feel cold when they saw Ivan's eyes while he fought.
As for Luke, his face no longer had the smirk from before as a deep frown now etched on his forehead while gritting his teeth.
He had been fighting for over a minute and could tell that his movements were faster than Ivan's but no matter how he attacked, the latter was always able to block his attacks! It was almost as if Ivan could predict his attacks.
He wasn't the only one with this thought, Sommy, Miko, Malcolm, and Damian, the rest of the repeaters were also watching the fight between the two with serious expressions on their faces. This was because they had realized the same thing as Luke, Ivan seemed to be predicting Luke's movements!
As for the rest of the trainees, the movements of Ivan and Luke were just too rapid for them to follow, talk less of noticing anything. They could only stare at the two in awe.
Compared to how their own training went, Ivan and Luke seemed to be in a death battle. The trainees concluded that they would not even last for five seconds if they had to face either of those two!
"Since when was Ivan this strong? He wasn't this powerful yesterday, how did he change overnight?!" Glen muttered absentmindedly as he watched one of his friends go toe-to-toe against a repeater. He felt both shocked and proud at the same time.
Ralph did not respond to Glen, he continued watching the fight between Luke and Ivan with a serious expression. Unlike others who were amazed by Ivan's combat strength, Ralph was more concerned about Ivan's current expression.
To him, Ivan's eyes appeared…empty. This was the same look that Ivan always had in his eyes when they first met in the outskirt, he has slowly changed over the years and Ralph had seen him show anger, hatred, dislike, happiness, relief, every other possible emotion but Ralph could not remember this emptiness among them.
Miss Elora, who was watching from a distance, was having the same thoughts as Ralph. But since she wasn't familiar with Ivan, she ticked it off that he must have been into fights a lot to be able to make such fast progress and possess such a focused gaze when fighting.
If only she knew that Ivan hadn't been into fights but had been used as a punching bag instead.
Pam!!
Ivan threw a punch but his fist was grabbed by Luke who refused to let go, taking advantage of this, he pulled Ivan over and launched a knee strike toward his waist.
Ivan was caught off guard by this action, he tried to pull away but Luke held onto him tightly.
BAM!!
Luke's knee slammed into Ivan's side with so much force that it sent a great wave of pain to Ivan's brain and made his whole body tremble. Ivan's expression finally changed into one of pain; he gritted his teeth to prevent himself from making a sound.
Finally landing a hit, Luke revealed a satisfied grin while at the same time letting go of Ivan and doing a spin.
Ivan had barely regained his senses from the pain when he saw Luke's leg coming down on him in a spinning kick, he quickly raised his arms to block it.
Paw!!
The kick landed heavily and Ivan stumbled backwards while enduring the new pain in his arms.
Silence! The place became dead silent as everyone stared at the two.
"Hehe, not so cocky anymore huh?" Luke landed and laughed when he saw Ivan's twisted expression. He felt proud upon finally landing a clean hit on Ivan, this showed that they were not on the same level!
Before Ivan could speak, Luke dashed toward him again. Ivan ignored the pain in his waist and arms as he once again locked Luke into a ferocious exchange of blows.
They fought for another two minutes without anyone landing a hit but they could see that Ivan was being pushed into defending, Luke was slowly getting the upper hand.
While dodging a blow from Luke, Ivan saw a chance and suddenly hugged Luke tightly.
"What is this!?"
Luke roared in confusion but before he could try to free himself, Ivan threw his head backwards and brought it forward with as much force as he could.
Crack!!!
"Ahhhhhhhh"
The clear sound of Luke's nose breaking rang through the room and what followed it was the agonizing screaming of Luke, Ivan had given him a full powered nod on his nose.
"How dare you?! I will kill you!" Luke shouted in a crazed manner as red energy started rising from his body.
Boom!!!